Men: Bigfoot-like creature may be in Mississippi

David Childers, a paranormal investigator featured on cable network A&E, said he caught a glimpse of a 6-foot-tall "creature" at the site in November of last year.

MLB player Brian Wilson of the San Francisco Giants (R) and sasquatch arrive for the ESPY Awards at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. UPI/Phil McCarten | License Photo

VICKSBURG, Miss., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A pair of Mississippi men said they had close encounters with a Bigfoot-like creature on separate occasions near the same playground.

Vicksburg resident Peyton Lassiter told The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger he discovered a footprint and some mysterious gray hair near a local playground Aug. 12, and David Childers, a paranormal investigator who has been featured on cable network A&E, said he caught a glimpse of a 6-foot-tall "creature" with "grayish-brown" hair at the playground in November of last year.

Lassiter said the footprint is about 9 inches long and about 6 inches wide at the toes. He said the shape of the footprint raised his curiosity.

"There are only two species that have that. Number one, humans and primates. Bears don't have fingerprint-like impressions on the skin of the foot, so that kind of changes the game a little bit," he said. "I have no knowledge of what made it, and I didn't see what made it, but it's very intriguing."

Lassiter said his research has uncovered human-like "wood ape" sightings in the region dating back to 1721.

Childers said Lassiter's discovery has reignited his search for the creature in the woods near the playground.